Europe

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has agreed a five-year deal with the National Rugby League to return the top division of the sport in Australia to its screens for the first time in over a decade.

BHRT and MRT, the public-service broadcasters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, respectively, have struck rights deals to show the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2020 summer Games in Tokyo.

Some heavyweight deals have been struck in Germany over the past 12 months, so it was no surprise to hear at this year’s Spobis conference in Düsseldorf that no market-defining properties will be available in the immediate future.

The BBC has struck a deal to show coverage of the All England Open Badminton Championships next month.

Racecourse Media Group, the holding company responsible for media and data rights involving a host of horse-racing destinations, has extended a partnership with SIS to include direct-to-home and streaming rights to all Irish racecourses and Chelmsford City horse-racing events.

Servus TV, the Austrian commercial broadcaster owned by the Red Bull Media House division of Red Bull, has struck a sublicensing deal with pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland for rights to the Bundesliga, the top division of German club football.

The Football Association, the sport’s governing body in England, has renewed its partnership with London-based production company Input Media.

Spanish agency Mediapro has pledged to collaborate with all Italian operators and open up new distribution windows after securing a deal for rights to domestic club football league Serie A, but pay-television broadcaster Sky has said it will fight to overturn the agreement.

In the latest interactive monthly data report, TV Sports Markets analyses recent developments in the media-rights landscape in the UK.

The matches of Belgian tennis star David Goffin during this week’s Open Sud de France tournament in Montpellier will be broadcast live and exclusively in his home nation on social media platform Facebook.

Russian state-backed broadcaster Match TV has confirmed that it will provide full live coverage of the upcoming winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

Lega Serie A, the organising body of the top division of Italian club football, has today (Monday) accepted an offer for its domestic broadcast rights from the Mediapro agency.

BT chief executive Gavin Patterson has played down the importance of exclusive Premier League football rights to the business model of the UK telco’s pay-television broadcaster BT Sport, stating the company has a “Plan B” in place should it miss out in the forthcoming rights auction.

Swiss pay-television broadcaster MySports has acquired rights to Formula E as the electric car-racing series prepares to return motor racing to the country for the first time in over six decades.

Greek pay-television broadcaster Cosmote has secured a three-season extension to its rights deal for the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga, the top two divisions of German club football.

Discovery Communications has so far recouped more than 70 per cent of its internal target from sublicensing Olympic Games media rights across Europe, according to TV Sports Markets research.